Chrome 27 beta promises faster web browsing
Google has released a beta of the latest version of its Chrome browser that loads the visible parts of web pages five per cent faster than earlier versions.
The speed boost to the Chrome 27 beta release, available for PCs and Android handsets through Chrome's Beta channel, is thanks to changes to the resource scheduler, the code that handles the order in which HTML, CSS, Javascript and other resources like images are loaded by the browser.
The scheduler in the latest version is more aggressive about using an idle connection to preload images. It also pushes back the point at which images are preloaded to prioritise painting - displaying the content in the browser window.
Google says the effect of the change has been a five per cent faster performance in Speed Index, the test of how fast visible elements of a web page load by webpagetest.org.
Another addition is the Sync FileSystem API, a new offline storage API for Chrome Packaged Apps which automatically synchronizes stored data across clients via Google Drive. Files are stored in private sandboxes and can be manipulated with the HTML5 File API and FileSystem API. To try the code, check the API spec and syncfs-editor sample app.
Other changes include the ability to use live audio as an input for the Web Audio API, allowing for low-latency audio manipulation and playback. When combined with the recent hook-up of Web Audio and WebRTC PeerConnection, it enables analysis and manipulation of the input signal to WebRTC. This feature is available on Mac and Windows PCs.
The month, week and data <input> types have been given a new interface on the desktop version of Chrome.
DevTool changes include support for vertical split view in dock-to-right, the ability to customise column layout in the network panel and a right click 'Copy as cURL' option in the Network tab.
A full list of the changes are available at chromestatus.com.